UK POLICE SMASH INTERNATIONAL CRACK COCAINE RING

LONDON (Reuters) - British police said on Tuesday that they had smashed an
international drugs ring, suspected by investigators of having masterminded
the biggest crack cocaine operations in London.

Armed officers arrested seven people in a swoop on homes in London that
lasted until dawn on Tuesday, a police spokesman said.

The group is suspected of being part of a professional drug smuggling ring
linked to major organized crime syndicates in the United States and Africa.

No drugs were found during the raids, which followed several months of
surveillance, but sources said this was because those detained were thought
to be at "the top of the ladder."

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation and U.S. customs officers were
involved in the investigation and arrests have been already been made in
the U.S., the police spokesman said.

"We have successfully thwarted one of, if not the biggest, crack cocaine
operations in London," said Detective Superintendent Steve Gwilliam, of the
Metropolitan Police's Serious and Organized Crimes Group.

Two men in their 30s and a woman in her 40s were arrested in the first raid
in south London on Monday evening, which was followed by four arrests
during dawn raids on Tuesday in north London.

"We have effectively cut off one the capital's main crack cocaine supplies
at its source," Gwilliam said.

It is understood that the drugs involved were smuggled from Ghana through
Belgium and the Netherlands before being shipped or flown into Britain.

The suspects were being held at police stations across London.

London has been hit by an increasingly violent battle for control of the
capital's hard drugs trade.